


living in a dream

by tipstaff



Series: running in the shadows [5]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: M/M, shrug emoji, uhh well here's this i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-08 20:55:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12261921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tipstaff/pseuds/tipstaff
Summary: Scully and Krycek are disgusted by Mulder's hot dog preferences.





	living in a dream

**Author's Note:**

> how many em dashes can i use in one two page fic. christ.

Krycek was cold. Again. He was lying on a bed-- where?-- and had curled up in a ball in his sleep a vain effort to combat the chill. There was someone else--  _ Must be Mulder _ _ ,  _ his tired mind supplied-- lying a few feet away from him, a thin blanket wrapped around them. Krycek scooted closer, one hand snaking out from under his jacket to grasp the blanket tightly and tug. This did not achieve the desired effect, which would have been to force Mulder to share the blanket. Instead, Mulder rolled over, threw his arm over Krycek, and pulled him in close.

Krycek’s nose was buried in Mulder’s shirt, his arms trapped by their positioning. He blinked slowly-- once, twice. Pulling back slightly so that he was just barely looking over the older man’s shoulder, he said, “Mulder?”

Mulder’s only response was to yawn and clutch Krycek tighter to him. He mumbled something unintelligible and lifted one hand to softly push at Krycek’s head, nudging Krycek’s forehead into his neck. Mulder buried his nose in Krycek’s hair, inhaling luxuriously only once, and then his breath returned to the deep and slow cycle of the heavily unconscious.

Krycek was still in shock, at this point. But it didn’t seem like Mulder was going to wake up and yell at him anytime soon, so slowly--  _ very _ slowly-- the tension released from his body and he melted into Mulder’s embrace.

An indeterminate amount of time went by-- maybe he was falling asleep, he couldn’t be entirely sure-- and then, very suddenly, Krycek became aware of Mulder’s leg pressing purposefully between his own.

His eyes snapped open and his head jerked back.

Mulder was wide awake, staring at him, his hair falling into his eyes. He looked oddly relaxed considering his thigh was rubbing against Krycek’s-- shit. Krycek was panting.

“Krycek,” Mulder said, his voice low and soothing.

Krycek couldn’t say anything, it was like his mouth didn’t work. He couldn’t stop himself from rolling his hips to meet Mulder’s leg, and the little groan that followed couldn’t be helped, either. Mulder pushed at his shoulder, crowding him in against the mattress until Krycek was on his back. He watched Mulder move above him-- when had he taken his shirt off?-- with the kind of mildly fearful curiosity one has with a wild animal or a volatile personality.

“Krycek,” Mulder said again. “Krycek, Krycek, Krycek…”

He leaned down to meet Krycek’s waiting lips.

“Krycek!”

Krycek’s eyes snapped open and he was shocked to see the morning sun burning through the trees. He squeezed his eyes shut and rolled onto his back, feeling the hard ground underneath him, and groaned.

It was a dream. He looked to his right at the remains of their campfire from the night before and squinted in order to shift his eyes to meet Mulder’s.

“Nightmare?” Mulder asked. “You were talking.”

“I- I was?” Krycek pushed himself up onto his knees, rubbing at the tears that pooled at the corner of his eyes in response to the bright sun just behind Mulder’s head. “Did I say anything?”

Mulder shrugged. “Nothing I could make out.”

Krycek took a deep breath and sat back on his calves. “Where’s Scully?”

Mulder pointed behind him. “She went that way to pee.”

Krycek nodded jerkily.

Mulder was gathering things from their campfire revelry the night before-- a box of graham crackers, one package of crackers still sliding around inside of it; an empty package of the cheese filled hot dogs that Mulder apparently liked enough to polish off an entire package on his own; a half-empty bag of hot dog buns with a bunch of balled up Hershey’s bar wrappers stuffed inside of it. He glanced up at Krycek and then, it seemed, decided to hold his stare.

“You have a nightmare or somethin’?” he asked again. “You’re acting weird.”

Krycek shook his head. “No, uh… I don’t remember what it was about. Maybe.”

That seemed to satisfy Mulder. “I’m gonna go get breakfast.” He shoved a graham cracker into his mouth and stumbled to his feet, grinning and asking Krycek through graham cracker crumbs as he passed him, “You want a weenie?”

He didn’t stick around for an answer. Krycek scoffed and watched him walk toward the car to stow away their trash and retrieve more of those disgusting hot dogs.

 

* * *

 

 

“Mulder, I hate you for making me eat these.”

Scully was sitting with her legs spread out in front of her, her knees bent so that she could balance the elbow that was holding her hot dog just at the right height to shove the last bite into her mouth. She rubbed her hands along her dirty, high-waisted Levis and moved to sit in a criss-cross position.

“Come on, guys,” Mulder answered around a mouthful of hot dog. “Cheese dogs are an American tradition! Like baseball!”

Scully swallowed her food and took a swig of her bottled water. “I’m not gonna dignify that with a response,” she said as she clambered to her feet. “I’ll be in the car when you two are ready to go.”

Mulder watched her go with a fondness that comes from being put into multiple life-or-death situations with someone. Scully was his best friend, his closest confidante-- he trusted and cared for her so much that he sometimes wondered if it was even possible for her to love him as much as he loved her. But they were never going to be more than friends, and Mulder was certainly fine with that. He liked knowing he would always have Scully to fall back on, no matter what. He didn’t want to complicate that with a half-hearted romance.

That made so much sense to him, and yet, it seemed that nearly everyone mistook him and Scully for partners of another variety besides the working kind. It had never really bothered him until his and Krycek’s awkward conversation among the foliage off that field. Maybe it was the fact that he had essentially come out to Krycek (however clumsily he may have done it), or maybe it was the way Krycek had responded-- stammering and mumbling uncomfortably like the idea of Mulder being into guys was the last thing he’d expected-- but it troubled him nevertheless. He had decided a week ago to chalk it up to Krycek’s near-constant tension and nervousness in the time they’d all been travelling together. Mulder was starting to think he and Scully should lay off the ribbing for awhile-- it seemed to be taking its toll, as Krycek almost never spoke, and when he did it was a few sentences at best. He seemed to be afraid to do so much as breathe without being given permission. It made Mulder feel a little mean-- not too much, mind you, but enough to feel a little squeeze around his heart when Scully made a comment about how useless Krycek was and the young man’s gaze fell to his feet and his brow furrowed.

Speaking of… the man himself was finishing his breakfast across the small campfire from Mulder. He raised his water to his lips and tipped his head back to swallow it down, exposing his bare throat to Mulder’s scrutiny. A rivulet of water escaped the shallow suction of Krycek’s lips around the bottle head and ran down the space between his chin and cheek, trailing down his neck and under his unwashed black t-shirt. He released the bottle from his mouth with a soft “pop” and sighed, “Ahh,” as he wiped the back of his hand against his mouth. He gathered his few pieces of detritus and stood, heading for the car.

Mulder was left biting his lip and staring after Krycek with hooded eyes.

“Shit,” he said quietly, and with no small amount of surprise.

**Author's Note:**

> i love these kids sm....... like comment and suscrive to my yuotube channel thank you to my fans (((:


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